Luxurious Shower Ideas for Small Spaces

Showers. We take them for granted, but they’re one of the most hardworking areas of our home.

There are many ways to customize a shower with attractive and practical features like grab bars, shelves, benches and a variety of tiles.

“Typically our designers do two to three different types of tiles in a custom shower,” says Kamil Suran, owner of Suran Built, a remodeling and renovation company in Crystal Lake, and winner of the 2016 National Bath Design Award. “We do a wall tile, and a floor tile, which could be mosaic, with usually some kind of a border, either vertical or horizontal. We try to tie the tile into the rest of the bathroom.” The tiles on the shower walls and floor are different, yet complement each other. Subway tiles are currently a popular design.

“The shower’s threshold is granite or quartz to match the vanity countertops so everything flows together throughout the bathroom,” Suran says. “Having a solid thicker piece for the threshold helps prevent cracking tile under shower door.”

On trend are frameless shower doors. “They make a shower look really pretty,” says Suran. At nearly a half inch thick, they are heavier and offer a sleeker, more customized look than framed shower doors.

Other popular amenities in the shower are corner shelves for personal care items, heavy duty grab bars for extra assistance and the shaving shelf. Approximately 18 inches from the floor, the shelf is ideal for propping feet while shaving legs.

Shower fixtures are also an important part of the custom shower. “Something we do quite a bit of is a shower faucet with a little bigger round shower head that includes a hand-held shower head so people can switch,” says Suran. “It comes as one unit.”